The mid-summer sun of May 2019 was beating hard on me.
The outside temperature must have been somewhere 36° C with 90% humidity. I was walking to my car with my wife beside me to a place on which I have written a couple of times before. This time, however, the reason was different.
I was planning to celebrate my wife’s birthday with the residents of “Nazareth home for the Aged”; an institution tucked away within four walls exactly behind Navelim church and sharing the boundary of the cemetery.
There are not enough “words” in a bottle of ink to pen the statements to write about this old age home. The nuns do yeoman service to these destitute people forgotten by the outside world.
Old age homes are designed to give shelter and provide a place to live, for those senior citizens for whom no one wants to care about but unfortunately today children are making it as their tradition where some leave their parents.
WHERE HUMAN REASON ENDS...
Where the presence of old age parents at home becomes too much of a trouble and there is no room for them as they are in need of constant care. Where it becomes impossible to bring friends at home because their parents can be a source of embarrassment for children, it is also becoming a shameful thing to introduce their parents to their friends.
So, for avoiding these kinds of embarrassment and shameful things, the old aged parents are being hit by this drastic detachment from their children at the age when they need a lot of care especially when they start losing their memories.
As we entered the gates some of the residents who were already aware of our visit rushed forward to greet my wife. Their hugs, blessings, wishes and most of their smiles were priceless.
Their singing of “Happy Birthday” song although on the 9th note was music to the ears. Sharing a lunch on their table with a limited menu was better than one served with buffet in a 5-star hotel. Their “Thank you’s and Goodbyes are sure to pull every string to the core of your heart which will emote your emotions.
Yet as we walked away to the gates to return home after spending some time with the elderly people, they were left alone again to reminiscent the reason why they were there and what or who led them there.
UNTOLD STORIES
They have numerous stories to tell. How many will you hear? They have no unconditional visitors yet few still appear to obtain approval of their properties and assets. They have incidents to narrate where they have given their best part of life to their children yet they never complain about them. That is the definition of unconditional love.
Yet this day they have left them to fend for themselves. Not for food but for a commodity called Love & Care which is free and found in abundance.
I salute these ‘inmates’ and many others outside our radar in a similar situation.
Inwardly they still find it difficult to accept grim reality-it feels as if it was only yesterday that their children fought for a place in their arms. Its pathetic and saddening yet is true.
ILLUSION OF A CHOICE
This article is not to advertise the charity but primarily for three things.
First as awareness to readers that these senior citizens were all parents some day; perhaps today they might have grown old from outside but from inside they become those little kids who can never grow up again.
This is the time they needed the support of those whom they taught to hold their hand and walk in life most yet they are the ones who have abandoned them.
Second to remind those who have their parents alive to cherish their existence and care for them for many are not fortunate of this blessing.
And thirdly and most importantly, a stark warning to those children who are planning to lead your parents there. It is a gruesome fact that they themselves will eventually end up there too. Remember the axe forgets but the tree remembers.
The choice is yours!